Crime and Punishment
by Vaneria Potter
Summary: "Somebody must take the blame." Apollo reflects on his upcoming punishment and the events leading up to it.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer:I do not own Percy Jackson, Heroes of Olympus, or any of the associated characters._

_Summary: "Someone must take the blame." Apollo could be a dramatic guy, but for once, he was deadly serious._

* * *

**"CRIME" AND PUNISHMENT**

"_Someone must take the blame._"

Only now, on the receiving end of my father's wrath, do I realise how terrible that oft-repeated phrase is.

Someone must take the blame, because Chaos forbid that the guy who listened to Gaia, stuck his head in the sand (again) and closed off Olympus actually take responsibility for his actions.

Yes, Rachel made a prophecy... Which the Romans had already known about for centuries. Yes, I was as susceptible to flattery as any deity. Yes, my legacy did some bad, stupid stuff, but I'd love to see anyone in our entire pantheon claim that they hadn't had at least one crazy kid in the past.

I'm the God of Prophecy, so I know stuff, even stuff I'd prefer not to. I know how and when my descendants will die, and can do nothing to stop it. I make mistakes, like anyone else, even if I'd never admit it out loud.

I knew that Hal would die helping two demigods, redemption for years of using his gift of prophecy to benefit himself and hurt others, and the fates promising to take it out on my non-prophecy-gifted children if I didn't reign Hal in. It figures that the final chance would be the _one_ time he used his gift for a good, non-selfish reason.

I knew how Octavian would die, just as I knew that he would never, in his rational mind, willingly sacrifice himself.

I've watched my children run through war-zones to help the wounded, seen them work for days without proper rest when pioneering research on new cures, or surgeries that save a life. I've prodded my muses to inspire them in speeches that changed lives, in plays or poems or books that brought attention to overlooked plight.

Octavian did not have that selfless strength of character. Not even a bit of it.

He was obsessed with being powerful and the centre of attention, with having people admire and respect him, heedless of the fact that respect earned through fear and intimidation is no such thing. Octavian promised me worship, if I would bless his endeavours, when most Romans flock to Mars or Jupiter or Bellona.

The Greeks were always much more appreciative of the arts that I patronised.

Hermes knew his son's fate, and did everything he could to try and prevent it. I did not have the luxury of believing that I could save my legacy.

(I don't see anyone blaming Hermes for the Second Titan War, either, even though Luke did far more damage than Octavian.)

I told Octavian that he would be instrumental in Gaia's defeat, and that he would be long-remembered by both camps, and my heart broke as I let him fill in the details for himself.

By himself, Leo Valdez would not have been able to summon the necessary firepower to take down Gaia. For that, he needed either Celestial Bronze or Imperial Gold burning missiles... Fuelled by the sincere desire to see the target utterly obliterated.

Leo wanted to take Gaia down, but he was motivated by the desire to protect his friends and avenge his mother. Powerful emotions, but not as powerful as the blinding, obsessive hatred that Octavian nursed.

Octavian's emotion was the destructive kind, the rage that toppled empires, the exploitation that brought a nation to its knees.

The fury that drove Gaia's first children to destroy Ouranous.

* * *

I tried to tell the gods what I knew.

Of course I did. Despite my impulsiveness, I'm not stupid, but, as always seems to be the case when something is actually important, none of them listened.

"Apollo, what colour will I wear to the dance?" Pink. (and goddess of beauty or not, it makes you look tacky) "Apollo, will that hot chick believe me if I say I'm the king of the gods?" Yes. (but it's going to backfire horribly) "Apollo, will doing this start a war?" No. "What if I do this?" Yes. (and how you can enjoy it, when so many of your demigod children are soldiers, I will never understand)

Random, unimportant stuff like that, my divine family listens to.

When it comes to something that they don't want to hear, like a threat to our power, or Great-Grandmother waking up in a bad mood? Then it's all, "Oh, don't listen to him, Apollo's just being dramatic."

Not like the _God of Freaking Prophecy_ would know when everything is about to go to Tartarus in a picnic basket, or anything.

Not like he also has kids who are in danger, and he might want to protect, just because none of them were counted among the Prophecy Seven.

Sometimes-resentful Kayla, still loyal to the end. Austin, with a sunny personality and a horrible sense of timing. Melody, only ten, but who had arrived at camp at the age of four, when her mother got cancer. Will, the best combat medic in either camp. Althea, my little pearl, with a voice as golden as her hair. Archer, who could out-shoot an Olympic-athlete (and whose mother hadn't been as hot with names as she was on the dance-floor).

On the Roman side Gwendolyn, kind and compassionate and optimistic. Poor, doomed Octavian, my daughter's only grandson. Ryan, still a year away from joining the legion, and so many more.

* * *

Worst of all, not one of my godly family stood up for me.

Ok, I hadn't expected Hera to step in for one of her husband's royal bastards, not when she was taking heat herself, and Ares doesn't do help, unless he can make the situation worse by lending a hand. I don't expect much of anything from Dionysus, either.

But Artemis, my own twin sister? Hestia, the family peacemaker? My Uncles, who oppose Father on principle every chance they get?

Hermes, my favourite brother who knows the turmoil and guilt of a misguided child? Or Hephaestus, who has suffered punishment for disobedience before? Demeter, who feels the pain of losing her child when Persephone descends to the Underworld every year?

Athena, the goddess of battle strategy and the sacrifices that come with a successful outcome? Eirene, the embodiment of Peace, whose only daughter had been killed by nature spirits acting on Gaia's orders, before she could try and persuade the Romans to call off their attack?

None of them said a word in my defence, and the betrayal of watching my twin silence the demigod who attempted to speak on my behalf pains me more than any punishment my Father could inflict.

* * *

Why?

We bicker as all siblings do, especially when annoying her is the only way she'll even give me the time of day.

Did I push her to far and not realise it? Does she hate me so much that she would take away my only chance of lenience?

Did she think she could do better, in her endless insistence to prove that girls are better than boys? Even Artemis couldn't charm Father into forgiveness before he handed down a punishment far worse than a century grounded at Camp Half-Blood.

Heck, with as awesome as my kids are I'd probably consider that a reward!

Being able to spend time with them, talk about their plans and ambitions, help Will with his archery (he got so much Healing talent that there wasn't room for much else, unless I wanted him to spontaneously combust), tell my daughters the best way to get rid of unwanted attention ( an arrow aimed at the privates usually works)...

* * *

I sit in my temple on Olympus, alone and afraid, trying to plan for my impending period of incapacitation, but it's hard to concentrate.

Hypnos owes me a favour, and I've pre-recorded a dream for my Greek and Roman kids. A combined Greco-Roman quest to take out Python should get things rolling in the direction of co-operation.

I left a subtle impulse that my Will is not going, unless he's had at least a month to recover from all that healing he's going to have to do. If he's his usual driven self, he'll work himself to the point where he just collapses on the Hades boy. If Will is really lucky, he'll collapse onto Nico's bed while the kid is in it.

The door opens, and Hermes delivers the summons to stand before the Olympian Council.

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_A/N: Ok, so the two things I didn't like about the series ending were that we didn't find out what happened to Apollo, and we don't know if Leo and Calypso return to camp. I'm not great at writing Romance, so this is my lame attempt at fixing one of those issues._

_I'm basing Apollo's thoughts on his kids off what Will says in the War Council, so hopefully it doesn't go too badly. Maybe I should do a sequel where Apollo's kids find out about him being blamed..._

_By the way, does anyone else think that it would be awesome if the Magnus Chase who is going to be the centre of the next series turns out to be Annabeth's cousin that she mentioned right before the battle?_

_Anyway, I'd love to know what you think, so take five seconds to leave a review._

_Thanks,_

_Nat._


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: I do not own Heroes of Olympus, or any of the associated characters._

_Summary:See Previous Chapter._

* * *

**CHAPTER TWO**

Storming Olympus was not the smartest life choice any of them had ever made.

Technically, it wasn't storming, but barging into a meeting of the Olympian Council and issuing demands sounded a lot less Heroic than the implication of a final, desperate charge against impossible odds.

And if their plan didn't work, Athena-Cabin-devised or not, then they wanted the song sung about it by future generations to sound freaking awesome.

Apollo kids were a bit obsessive about that.

If they couldn't free their father, then they would at least make him proud

* * *

No one could pinpoint exactly how word got out, but it didn't take long for the Apollo cabin to find out, and even less time for cabins Ten and Eleven to send agents to figure out why the normally sunny campers were stalking around looking like they wanted to kill someone.

The Aphrodite cabin could never resist gossip, and the Hermes kids were nearly as bad, being children of the messenger god, so it was a matter of hours before everyone at Camp Half Blood knew.

It was a matter of minutes before they were IM-ing their friends at Camp Jupiter, which resulted in Frank and every second Centurion (they couldn't leave Camp Jupiter entirely leaderless), plus a few Legionaires heading to New York as fast as possible for the first United Demigod Council.

* * *

Despite it's posh-sounding title, the first half-hour of the First United Demigod Council mostly consisted of Cabin Seven ranting and the other Demigods attempting to calm them down.

Mr D hadn't been sent back to camp yet, so one authority figure wasn't a problem, but that still left one more. Jason looked around, "What are the dangers of Chiron returning before we finished?"

The Stoll brothers grinned, making everyone else instinctively cringe. "Not high. We sent our youngest siblings to keep him occupied, headed by Lacy of Cabin Ten and armed with a list of the most time-consuming and awkward questions we could brainstorm."

Drew laughed wickedly, "Let's just say: Chiron may be putting out an ad for a new assistant co-ordinator to field uncomfortable puberty-related questions by the time they're through with him."

Ouch. Poor Chiron.

Will Solace dragged things back on track. "Look, I know Dad could have done better than to listen to Octavian's flattery, but he probably saw a glimpse of what would happen to his Legacy, and... Well, you Romans knew him best; what are the odds of my not-so-illustrious relative sacrificing himself if there wasn't something big in it for him?"

There was a lot of uncomfortable shifting from the Romans, who didn't like admitting weakness. Then again, it was Octavian. Even Michael couldn't argue. "Minimal to non-existent, as much as I hate to admit it."

One of Annabeth's half-sisters, who had aspirations to be a lawyer and loved debating, jumped in. "So you could argue that Apollo saved the day by telling Octavian what he wanted to hear. Even what he needed to hear to make the choices that led to his participation in Gaia's defeat."

Austin beamed at her. "Exactly! Besides, isn't the ability to make our own choices, good or bad, part of what being a Demigod is all about?"

There were nods and murmurs of agreement all around. Kayla, who could hold a grudge better than most Nemesis kids, folded her arms. "Besides, if Dad is going to be punished for what his Legacy did, why isn't Hermes in the hot-seat for Luke's actions? Or Athena for Daedalus handing Ariadne's string over to Kronos's army?"

Hazel placed her hands on her hips, "Or Mars, Ceres and Venus, even. Octavian's family has been sending sending kids into the Legion for centuries, and Apollo isn't the only god mixed up in that family tree."

Percy nodded in agreement. "Or my Dad for Sciron trying to steal the Athena Parthenos and attempting to kill the Prophecy Seven? Well, Prophecy Five plus Nico, since Annabeth and I weren't there, but -"

Annabeth elbowed him to stop babbling. "Look, I agree with all of this, but we need some kind of prescient. We need a position to bargain from."

Frank raised his hand. "Python. On Delos, Apollo told us that no one was receiving prophecies because Python had taken over the temple."

Chris Rodrigues grinned. "A combined quest, Greek and Roman, to kill a monster that it took a god to bring down last time? That's deserving of one heck of a reward, and if they only have to dish out one collective one, instead of one reward per demigod, I can see most of the Gods going for it."

Dakota looked apprehensive. "Python, though, that won't be easy. Almost impossible, even."

Clarisse laughed. "I single-handedly killed a drakkon. Impossible is something that happens to other people."

Vicki from the Nike Cabin shrugged. "It's a mentality that worked for Alexander the Great, and Clarisse won't be fighting alone. How to we get there, though?"

Jason glanced at Nyssa. "You've still got Leo's blueprints for the Argo II, right? We can modify one of the trimarines to get us over land, and Percy can speed us up a bit on water."

Percy nodded. "The sea monsters we killed last time should take a while to re-form, and my half-sister Kymopoleia likes us, or at least Jason, right now, so we shouldn't have too many delays there."

* * *

The Quest worked out with almost no problems, unless you counted a brief visit from Poseidon, who wanted to know what his son was doing going off to the Ancient lands so soon after last time, and a brief squabble over who got to lead the charge, which Clarisse won.

(Maimer was hard to argue with, especially when Clarisse's Son-of-Hermes boyfriend had quietly pick pocketed the Romans' weapons)

Will wore himself out healing everyone after the fight, to the point where he got to the last bed and passed out, directly on top of Nico, who wasn't too upset about it. The son of Hades even laughed when Hazel started fanning herself, then pulled the blanket over over both of them and told everyone else to go away.

(Katie and Lacy managed to gag the Stoll brothers before they could make any bawdy remarks, but it was close.)

* * *

Arriving back in America, they parked/anchored the _Unity_ in New York Harbour and headed straight for the Empire State Building, lugging Python's head with them. The doorman tried to protest, but they weren't in the mood, and he backed down at the sight of thirty demigods brandishing a very sharp assortment of weaponry.

They marched to the main temple, ignoring the minor gods and goddesses who called greetings and fell silent at the sight of Python's severed head. The doors were closed and too heavy to simply push open, but Lou Ellen pulled out a small model of a trebuchet, muttering a few words that enlarged it to full size.

The doors may have been too heavy for a demigod, but Python's head, impacting at high speed and velocity? No problems.

The demigods entered, making the Olympians look away from the slightly battered head in the middle of their circle of thrones, and Will took centre point, flanked by Nico on one side and Thalia on the other, the rest of the Centurions and Head Councillors arrayed behind them. Even Clovis was awake and alert.

Tall and golden and angry, the very image of his father right before he cursed some hapless schmuck, Will addressed Zeus directly. "We've just returned from dealing with Python at Delphi. We all agreed on asking for my Father's release as a reward."

Zeus narrowed his eyes. "Is that so?"

Percy stepped forward, eyes stormy. "Apollo didn't do anything wrong except listen to praise and flattery. Anyone here can tell you that Octavian was good at convincing people, and I, personally, have had enough of broken promises."

Now Zeus looked ready to reach for his Master Bolt, but Nico drew his attention. "Free Apollo, or this will be the last quest that any demigod in either camp carries out. No -"

Percy interjected, "Unless it involves a direct, non-godly threat to the safety of demigods or the camps as a whole."

Reyna agreed, "Which means that threatening to smite or turn us into something won't make us do whatever it is."

The rest of the demigods nodded, and Nico continued, gripping Will's hand tightly. "No quests, with those two exceptions, no matter who requests it."

Zeus drummed his fingers, looking irritated. "I could send you to join your father, if you are so... Boy, what are you doing?"

The youngest child of Apollo present was scribbling in a notebook and muttering, but looked up at Zeus's near-shout. "... Trigger-happiness by smithing with finesse... I'm composing the epic of what we're doing. Don't worry, everyone who voted for not using Dad as a scapegoat will be painted in a good light."

That... Was not as reassuring to most of the gods as it could have been. Ryan's smile, charming and innocent and far too familiar, was even less so. "It's being automatically recorded as I write, so turning this copy to ash won't help."

Zeus growled, having never reacted well to things not going his way. "I could always smite the rest of you, instead."

The other gods stiffened, tensing for action, but Annabeth merely shrugged, hooking her arm through Percy's as if they were on a date in Central Park. "You could, but then you wouldn't have anyone to do your dirty work or encourage belief in you, at least until the next generation where they aren't curious enough to ask why they don't have older siblings."

And if the Gods didn't fade before that happened, without their strongest instruments of influence there to anchor them. It was a valid point, and they all knew it.

Zeus threw up his hands, making Percy smirk as he remembered Poseidon once commenting that the King of the Gods would have done better as the god of Theatre. It was hard to disagree. "Look, we already handed punishment down, officially! We can't just turn around and reverse it!"

Gwen, who had refused to let her retirement from the Legion stop her from coming along to the Council or the Quest, shrugged. "Then transmute it. Change it to a lesser sentence or a shorter duration that ends today. But our Father will be pardoned before today ends."

Dionysus seized the opportunity with both hands, clinging to it like a child with a favourite toy. "He can replace me at Camp Half-Blood, then these insolent children can be the ones to put up with his terrible, incessant haikus."

Althea rolled her eyes. "You know it's only that terrible when Athena, Ares or Artemis are around, right? Dad swore that they wouldn't hear any good poetry until they coughed up an apology for saying his spheres of influence were stupid."

Hermes groaned. "That's why we all had to suffer through verses to make your ears bleed? And how did you find out?"

Will shrugged. "It's common knowledge, and I saw some of the poetry he wrote for my Mum. It's breathtaking in comparison. Anyway, whatever you decide, we expect a visit from Dad to tell us the result by the end of the day."

They had pushed their luck far enough, and Will's last remark made for a good parting statement and dramatic exit.

And even if they did have to put up with poetry of dubious skill, Apollo couldn't be worse than Mr D.

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* * *

_A/N: Ok, I couldn't think of what to give Apollo as a punishment, so fill in the blanks or write your own version and PM me with the link._

_I thought it was weird that the god of Poetry could be bad at it, especially when he clearly has no such problems with music or healing, and no other gods seem to be so affected, so I made something up to explain it. _

_Interaction between Gods and demigods is always hard for me to write, and I never quite manage to get into Zeus's head properly, so reviews on if it worked of if this turned out as a piece of crap would be much appreciated._

_Thanks,_

_Nat_


	3. IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!

_On a side (and totally awesome) note: I HAVE FINALLY BEEN PUBLISHED!_

_My first two books, '_**_The Highwayman's Legacy_**_' and '_**_Cinderella Grows a Spine_**_', are now available through Amazon dot com in kindle and paperback formats, and both currently have sequels in the works! _

_These sequels are '_**_Snow White learns Stranger Danger_**_' and '_**_Eternity's Invitation_**_', both of which are being posted in 'first draft' form on this site._

_Thanks,_

_Nat_


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